Federal government slammed over attempt to block Sixties Scoop ruling

An extraordinary 11th-hour government attempt to stop ajudge from ruling on a bitter eight-year legal fight over the Sixties Scoop is under fire from the plaintiffs and observers, who denounced it Wednesday as galling and unprecedented political interference in judicial proceedings.

In a blistering note to Ontario Superior Court, the plaintiffs urge Justice Edward Belobaba to reject the Liberal government's request to put his decision on ice one week before he was expectedto issue it.

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"It is difficult to provide a measured and professional responseto this request by new counsel for (Canada)," Morris Cooper, one ofthe plaintiffs' lawyers said in an email to Belobaba obtained by TheCanadian Press.

"This unprecedented, unilateral request by the defendant (amounts to) shameless audacity, impudence, gall, or effrontery."

Belobaba reserved his decision late last week on whether the federal government is liable to about 16,000 at-risk indigenous children in Ontario taken from reserves and placed in non-aboriginal homes from 1965 to 1984. The plaintiffs, who seek $1.3 billion in damages in the class action, maintain they suffered a devastating loss of cultural identity.

The federal government has fought tooth and nail against the plaintiffs, arguing it has no liability. However, in a majorturnaround last week, Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennettmade a vaguely worded announcement in which she said the governmentnow wanted to negotiate a national settlement to bring a close towhat she called a "dark chapter" in Canada's history.

Plaintiffs want 'no part' in talks

This week, Barney Brucker, a prominent Justice Department lawyer,wrote Belobaba to say the government wanted to discuss the"potential benefits to the negotiations that an abeyance of yourdecision might have" in light of Bennett's announcement.

Brucker's note, also obtained by The Canadian Press, indicatedthe government was prepared to file a formal court motion to blockthe ruling if no agreement could be reached.

The plaintiffs, however, made it clear they wanted no part ofsuch discussions.

"We have faced eight years of litigation and appeals of purelyprocedural matters and well over a year of effort to get this firstruling on the merits of this claim," Cooper wrote the justice."The class members and victims of the Sixties Scoop deserve adecision."

Belobaba, who had indicated his intention to rule on or aboutFeb. 16, showed little immediate appetite for wading into the fray.

"It goes without saying that in the normal course, and absentthe consent of both parties, a decision is released when it isscheduled to be released," Belobaba wrote the parties.

Government not backing down

The government, however, was undeterred. In another note toBelobaba on Wednesday, Brucker again expressed a desire to stop the decision.

"We are of the view that the circumstances that pertain areunique and that the abeyance sought is ultimately in the interest ofall concerned parties in this and other SixtiesScoop litigation thatis not before this court," he said.

In response, Belobaba said his "present intention" was torelease his ruling Feb. 15 but Brucker could file a written delaymotion with him directly.

"I have never heard of a defendant succeeding in a motion todelay the release of a decision but I am keeping an open mind,"Belobaba said, adding he would rule on any such a motion by earlynext week.

In a statement Wednesday, Bennett said the government wants tomove "these issues" out of courtrooms and instead negotiate withvictims of "historic wrongs" in good faith.

"In this case, the government is asking, again, to sit down with all parties to discuss the best way forward to achieve a fairsettlement for the claimants, and to advance reconciliation betweenindigenous people and the government of Canada," she said.

Slammed as government 'tactic'

Marcia Brown Martel, the lead plaintiff in the class action,slammed what she said was just another government delaying tactic toavoid accountability for its actions. Bennett's words ofreconciliation, she said, ring hollow.

"When it comes to a court process, they have not acknowledgedthe wrongs, the detrimental history, that they have committed uponour people, our aboriginal children in this country," Brown Martelsaid. "They are trying to circumvent that legal process throughpolitical manoeuvring."

In an interview, Cooper called it "mind-boggling" that alitigation lawyer would contact the judge hearing the case without the knowledge or consent of the opposing party.

While SixtiesScoop claims have been filed in several otherprovinces, those are independent of, and not nearly as advanced as,the Ontario action launched eight years ago.